A fastener driving apparatus is a tool used to drive fasteners, such as nails and staples into a workpiece. The fastener driving apparatus may be used for various operations, such as making wooden walls, positioning hang sheathings over the wooden walls, fastening baseboards over a lower portion of an interior wall and crown molding.
There are various fastener driving apparatuses known in the art. These fastener driving apparatuses operate utilize various means and mechanisms known in the art for their operation. For example, the prior art fastener driving apparatuses may be operated based on compressed air generated by an air compressor, fuel cells, electrical energy, a flywheel mechanism, and the like.
Although these fastener driving apparatuses are useful in driving the fasteners into the workpiece, such apparatuses have numerous limitations. For example, the fastener driving apparatuses operated on the compressed air are bulkier, non-portable and costlier due to requirement of the air compressor and associated air-lines. Fastener driving apparatuses operated on the fuel cells are complicated in design and are expensive. Further, the apparatuses that are operated on the fuel cells require both electrical energy and fuel. More specifically, a spark source required for combustion of the fuel derives its energy from various electric energy sources such as batteries, and the like. Furthermore, the fastener driving apparatuses operated on the fuel cells generate loud report and release of combustion products.
Further, the fastener driving apparatuses operated on the electrical energy are limited to fasteners of relatively small lengths, such as one inch or less. Further, the fastener driving apparatuses operated on the electrical energy generate high reactionary force. The high reactionary force is a consequence of the comparatively longer time taken by such fastener driving apparatuses to drive the fasteners into the workpiece. Further, the fastener driving apparatuses operated on the electrical energy are limited in their repetition rate because of long time it takes to drive a fastener into the work piece. Moreover, although fastener driving apparatuses operated by flywheels are capable of driving the fasteners of longer sizes very quickly, these apparatuses are bulkier in sizes and weight. Further, drive mechanisms of these apparatuses are complicated in design, which results in a high cost of such apparatuses.
Additionally, a majority of the above-mentioned fastener driving apparatuses includes a striker mechanism for driving the fasteners into the workpiece. The striker mechanism may be retracted to its initial position by means of various retracting mechanisms, such as a spring, a bungee and the like. Although such striker mechanisms are useful in driving the fasteners into the workpiece, these retracting mechanisms have numerous limitations. For example, the retracting mechanisms, due to inertia associated therewith, consume significant drive energy of the fastener driving apparatuses and may prevent the fasteners from being fully driven into the workpiece. Accordingly, these retracting mechanisms may require an increase in power to drive the fasteners into the workpiece. Further, these retracting mechanisms reduce drive speed of the fastener driving apparatuses. Furthermore, the existing retracting mechanisms may bias the striker mechanism towards the workpiece, causing a safety hazard for the user.
Based on the foregoing, there exists a need for a portable fastener driving apparatus that has an improved safety profile and that efficiently drives a fastener in a single stroke with favorable ergonomics. The fastener driving apparatus should have a simple and robust design including a retracting mechanism capable of resetting the driver with only minimal loss of drive energy. Further, the fastener driving apparatus should be portable in nature, inexpensive to produce, robust, and should be capable of driving the fastener into the workpiece in a single stroke.